News from the Library of Congress

December 11, 2000

Library
of Congress to Begin Its First Electronic Archives

Beginning in January, the Library of Congress will acquire its first
complete set of an electronic journal archives.

The American Physical Society (APS), representing more than 42,000 physicists
and a leader in the creation of e-journals, will soon begin electronically
sending to the Library information from more than a century of physics
research, including scientific history on the electron. The complete archives
of eight of the world's premier physics journals will soon be freely accessible
to all Library users. These archives will be continually updated, creating
a repository of both historic articles and the latest physics research.

Associate Librarian for Library Services Winston Tabb said that "publishers
are attracted by the idea of having secondary sites for protection of
their assets. At the same time, of course, libraries are concerned about
saving memory as well as about making intellectual creation available
for scholars. This project addresses both issues."

The Library will serve as a permanent repository of the journals.

"Electronic archives are like a living thing," said APS Treasurer Thomas
McIlrath. "Not only is the information from a particular journal literally
at your fingertips, but so are links to referenced research both backward
and forward in time. Historians, for example, can easily see the impact
of a paper on later scientific thinking." He noted that another advantage
of e-journals is that they can include moving images and other media that
cannot be reproduced in print.

"This will assure that there will be a copy of our archive available
to the world, and preserved for future generations," said APS Editor in
Chief Martin Blume. "Librarians, as archivers of journals in the print
world, have been concerned that digital resources might not be similarly
preserved. This step with the Library of Congress should reassure them
that access to our journals will always be available."

"The best way to make progress in the digital environment is to enter
into pilot-like agreements to test the benefits, costs, policies and procedures
of various models," Winston Tabb added. "This pioneering agreement with
the American Physical Society marks a major step in the right direction
for America's national library."